Tech millionaire Naftali Bennett positions himself to lead Israeli right

March 12, 2015 10:18 PM

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Naftali Bennett knows how to work a crowd. Pacing up and down on stage, his shirt-sleeves rolled up, his voice fills the seafront hangar where hundreds of recently-arrived immigrants have come to hear him make his case. The 42-year-old is stocky, bald and has a toothy grin that makes him look younger. He has them rapt.

Bennett’s is the swaggering self-confidence of a man who set up a software firm and sold it for $145 million (€136 million) before turning to politics and becoming a star. His style owes everything to Silicon Valley. With his earnest, informal delivery (“you guys”, “Oh man”), his messianic zeal and ...